St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-09

AtTtlt TIC III ICooS, liuo SOllt OUT III HIS
mind, and the prince of Partisan chron-
iquers, Albert Wolff, deyotes two and Il
half columns of sympathetic prose in the
Figaro to the memory of this worthy
parsonage. Charles began life as dish
washer in a restaurant; he gradually
rose to be waiter, then maitre d'hotel
in club, in which position
he lent money to gamblers,
Who repaid him with a handsome pour
boire; finally he bought founders
shares in the Cercie de la Press. and es-
tablished himself there as croupier pre-
teur, and became famous in the Bo-
hemiam world of gamblers who oscil-
late between the Cerele de la Presse.
the Cercle de rEscrime and half a
dozen other so-called clubs. Charles
end of the Nineteenth century.
and a very different person
from the old-fashioned croupiers of the
French and German watering-places of
former times, who were content to earn
6,600 or 5000 francs year, and married
the daughter of the local grocer or the
chemist Charles lived in an elegant
villa on the Rue de la Faisanderie,
where he was the neighbor of Nj. de
Freycinet; Charles had gallery OF
modern pictures, rich in works
of Meissonier, Diaz, Rousseau, Tro-
yon, and other masters la mode;
Charles extended his protection to one
of the most celebrated beauties of the
Partisan stage, whose regard he shared
with royal prince; Charles was an
habitue of first nights at the theater, he
owned race horses, made book Oh the
Derby and the q. and Prix, owned a
provincial casino and was Il sleeping
partner in all kinds of gambling enter
prises. How did Charles obtain the
million necessary to lead such
an existence? In the first place
he was shareholder in the Cercle de la
Presse, and in the second place he was
cashier and preteur until that latter in
dustry was abolished by order of the
police. AS preteur he would stand near
the baccarat table, pencil in hand and
his pocket full of jetonS, which he dis
tributed. as need required, among the
playerS-l0 louis to this one, % louis to
another, LOCO to an0ther-and as
fortune favored this one or that
one the jetons were paid back with
pourb DIRE of 10 to 20 louis; and SO, in
the Krach and Union Generate, Charles,
after his nights work. would leave the
club at daybreak with gain of four,
five and even ten thousand francs.
Thanks to this confiture, as the club
slang terms it, the fortune of Charles
LerouX grew with marvellous rapid
ity; and, like all caisSiers in
clubs such as the Cercie de la
Pressc, he kept lot of hangers
on, the scum of the gambling Bohemians
of Paris, who played for him at the
bacarat-table, and exercised all the
functions of the parasite who lives luxu-
riOuSly on the vices of others, dimes at
Cafe AnglaiS, drives in Bots de Boul-
Ogne. and contributes towards the so
called elegant movement of Paris.
san croupier who has made an
immense fortune; during the
the ten years which preceded
the Krach there were in the clubs of
Paris at least twenty croupierS and
mattress d'hOtel who lived at the rate of
100000 francs year, and more than
three hundred BOhemianS who absorbed
each 10000 francs year, gained by some
means OF another around the baccarat
table. Two millions on the one hand,
three millions on the other, plus about
five millions sQuandered by the reg
ular gamblers themselves, and thus we
arrive at a total of ten millions year
abs orbed by the vice of gambling, or in
Gti yttiS q Stiiil VI Oiit HuUuIttt IulllfOUS
of francs scattered to the winds. Hence
the economists say that gambling in all
its forms is one of the great agents in the
distribution of fortune, and that were it
not for play Europe in the course of a
century would be devoured by formida-
BILE financial feudaliSm more terrible
than the landed feudalism of the past
Since the Krach, gambling in Paris
has not fiourished, and big banks at
baccarat are few and far between.
Charles LerouX, however, continued his
industry of money-lending until two
months ago, when the police suppressed
that industry in all the Paris clubs.
Shortly after this Charles began to show
signs of madness of the species known
as foile DIES grandeurs. The millionaire
dishwasher, devoured by pride and So
cial ambition, in spite of his millions,
could not shake of the past and become
Monsieur Ler0uX." He remained
"CharleS," man without education and
of limited intelligence, king of Bo-
hemians, but too weak to wear his
crown.